News briefs – Aug. 6

HUSTED ANNOUNCES MEETING OF OHIO BOARD OF VOTING MACHINE EXAMINERS – Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced that the Ohio Board of Voting Machine Examiners will meet on Aug. 12 at 10 a.m. at the Secretary of State’s Office located at 180 East Broad St., 15th Floor, Columbus, 43215.

The agenda includes:

· Review of the application for certification of the electronic pollbook submitted by Everyone Counts, Inc. and examination of the pollbook for certification and approval for use in Ohio elections.

· Review of the application for certification of the ExpressPoll EZRoster Version 3.2.0.0 electronic pollbook (submitted by Election Systems and Software [ES&S]) and examination of the pollbook for certification and approval for use in Ohio elections.

· Review of the modification to the EA Tablet electronic pollbook (submitted by Election Administrators, LLC) for certification and approval for use in Ohio elections.

This meeting of the board is open to the public.

DIOCESE OF TOLEDO JOINS IN NATIONAL 54 DAY ROSARY NOVENA – The Diocese of Toledo is joining hundreds of thousands of people of all ages across the United States for the 2015 National 54 Day Rosary Novena. This novena’s primary intention is “For Family and Marriage.” Bishop Daniel Thomas is asking every member of the Diocese to pray the rosary every day during the 54-day novena (August 15-October 7) for the intention of holy marriages and holy families.

One special way the Novena will be prayed in the Diocese of Toledo will be with a “Bishop’s Traveling Rosary,” which will make its way throughout the 19 counties of the entire Diocese and will visit a different Catholic school each day. There, the rosary will be prayed by the entire school community together with local homeschool and religious education children and families. The novena begins with the praying of the rosary at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, August 15 with the students, families and staff of Our Lady of Consolation School at Shrine Park in Carey.

Following its journey through the Diocese, on October 7 the Bishop’s Traveling Rosary will be brought to Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral (2535 Collingwood Boulevard in Toledo) for the conclusion of the 54-day novena. That evening on the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary and the Feast Day of the Diocese of Toledo, the rosary will be prayed at 6:30 p.m., followed by Mass celebrated by the Bishop. Everyone is invited to come to the Cathedral to join in the closing of the Novena.

ASHLAND UNIVERSITY EDUCATION PROFESSORS AWARDED – Two associate professors of education in the Dwight Schar College of Education at Ashland University have been awarded funding for a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) grant titled “Accessing Carioca Culture through the Lens of Disability.”

Dr. Carla Abreu-Ellis and Dr. Jason Brent Ellis received the award from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of International and Foreign Language Education. The award, in the value of $67,575, will fund six undergraduate students, two current school administrators and seven full-time teachers in the humanities and social sciences to travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during July of 2016 to study accessibility and inclusion within a Brazilian context.

Ellis, who is project curriculum specialist for the grant, said, “We are extremely happy to be funded for this project since it will provide our students and local educators in the community the opportunity to learn another language – Portuguese — and experience a different culture’s concept of disability and accessibility.”

Abreu-Ellis, who is the project director, explained how the seminar abroad program will work.

“The selected participants will spend four weeks in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,” she said. “They will attend a series of seminars on accessibility and inclusion provided by leading Brazilian theorists, professionals and practitioners. They will also visit tourist sites, such as Christ the Redeemer and the FIFA 2014 World Cup soccer stadium Maracanã.”

The award is the highest honor given to an Alpha Delta Pi chapter and Ashland’s Epsilon Nu was one of 14 chapters to win this award out of the 155 active chapters across the country.

“Being recognized as a top chapter internationally is amazing and a testament to the tradition of our sisterhood. It also speaks to our passion to our motto: We Live For Each Other,” said Kayla Toth, the current Alpha Delta Pi president at AU. “Every day we strive as an organization on campus to be the best women we can be. To me, this award shows all of our hard work to excel in running our collegiate chapter effectively, being involved in philanthropy and having fun.”